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DARK SOULS™ II: Scholar of the First Sin > Guides > Blitz's Guides
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The Collector's Code of Honor
By Blitz
My personal set of rules I follow when engaging in pvp, figured I would write them out for anyone who visits my profile to read if they wish.
   
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Created by
Blitz
Online
Category: Multiplayer
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
7 Jan, 2023 @ 4:48pm
16 Jan, 2023 @ 11:21am
741 Unique Visitors
7 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Introduction 
When Invading as a Darkspirit 
When Defending as Host 
Breaking Duel Etiquette 
The Arena 
Disclaimer 
Comments
Introduction
Since Dark Souls 2's release I've been engaging in PVP on and off between consoles and PC. Since I just hit 1000 hours on steam I had the idea to write out how I treat each PVP situation for people I duel to read if they visit my profile.
When Invading as a Darkspirit
If the host is friendly:
  • Wait for them to clear enemies of chosen arena.
  • Allow both sides to buff their weapons, apply defensive spell, and/or homing spell.
  • Bow/wave before and after duel. Always bow if victorious and foe was honorable.

If the host is hostile:
  • Move to an area where there is cover/enemies to apply buffs/heal to full before initiating duel
  • Engage host wherever they may be, waiting for them to defeat enemies they are fighting is situational depending on how overtly hostile they were.
  • If they did not heal during fight and fight was good, still bow, not everyone follows the same guidelines of etiquette.
  • If they healed during duel, anything goes.

If the host has co-op phantoms:
  • Approach group and attempt to be friendly
  • Indicate that you wish to duel the phantom first
  • If the group understands, commence duel as if phantom was a host.
  • Repeat steps for fighting host
  • If group is hostile, anything goes to fight a gank.

Strange/Unique situations:
  • If the host is friendly and activates a seed of tree of giants, clear the area to help host achieve their objective, if they wish to duel after make sure you're near a bonfire for an easy respawn if you win. Alternatively, offer humanity prior to duel as gift for them being friendly.
  • If a host seems to be struggling or is new, offer assistance where you can. Show secrets, give healing, you are seeking a fight, an easy kill is not an honorable one. Help people grow so you can help nurture future fights that are worth your time.
  • If a host is afk, can either disconnect or teach them to not AFK in a multiplayer arena by killing them or breaking their gear.
When Defending as Host
If the Invader is friendly:
  • Bow and apply spells prior to duel starting
  • Bow after duel

If the Invader is Hostile:
  • If attacked during bow or buff spells, consider the invader dishonorable and any means are applicable to defeating them, avoiding healing outside of repairing initial damage done during bow or buffs.
  • Shrug or throw a dung pie depending on how dishonorable they acted

If I have Summons:
  • If you are friendly they will fight first and follow rules as above.
  • If you are hostile, you get to fight a 2v1. Deal with it as you may.
Breaking Duel Etiquette
Situations where I consider a duel no longer valid:
  • Healing with estus or spells
  • Ganking with NPC's or players
  • Baiting attacks out and never attacking yourself unless I attack first. Baiting in the normal sense of tricking your opponent is okay, fishing for hits is not. This applies to backstabs, just don't fish it's not a duel at that point.
  • Hacking, thank you Blue Sentinel mod for allowing me to kick hackers and see levels. Highly recommend it as it allows you to invade in any area from anywhere and serves as another layer of anti-cheat.
The Arena
I don't really fight here anymore since, it feels like the same 3 builds over and over again. Will fill out this section when I don't feel lazy.
Disclaimer
Dark souls is just a game, anyone can play it however they chose, this guide is simply my personal code of honor for engaging in multiplayer since I miss the old days of Dark Souls 1 and 2 pvp when everyone followed a stricter community wide suggested rules of honor and etiquette. No one has to follow any rules, these are simply the ones I abide by when I play and wanted to share them for others to read if they fought me or encountered me and wanted to understand why I fought the way I did.
14 Comments
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Apocachips 15 Apr @ 2:14pm 
That's interesting, great code of honor, wish you the best !
rparham685 3 May, 2024 @ 7:03pm 
Likewise, Just reinstalled, coming back after......well, it's been a while. :)
Blitz  [author] 1 May, 2024 @ 5:01am 
I need to get back into the swing of things, been busy with life and other games outside ds2 lately
Col_ 30 Apr, 2024 @ 11:16pm 
That is a nice set of rules. I miss fighting you bro!!:estusfull:
Blitz  [author] 13 Feb, 2023 @ 7:48pm 
Fair point and if a build is made for that sure, I've seen a few health recovery builds before. That point is moreso for the people who run away and hide to heal rather than trying to get it off in a duel and reengaging.
Nakurai 13 Feb, 2023 @ 12:26pm 
im curious, why do you think healing through spells is dishonorable?
I put points into faith to use good heals and such and be a sort of a monk, sort of how like people put 30 str into using a giant sword to one tap people. now if I were to just NOT use half of what ive built my char to be, im essentially a str build using a shortsword.
now im not saying "allow me to heal myself so I can kill you easier" but I like to play defensive in games and outlive people, so if im forgoing having 30 str or 30 vit, and I have to use a LONG ass cast in the middle of a duel, so be it? 90% of the time when I do cast heal in the middle of a battle, I end up getting punished and either lose health in the end or I only gain 5% of the heal, cause the health lost. now dont get me wrong, ive always personally seen use of estus as dishonorable, cause depending on the circumstances, phantoms dont get to use estus, but if you attune a healing spell, ANYONE can do this, invading phantom or not.
Blitz  [author] 5 Feb, 2023 @ 12:27pm 
Sometimes that's the best can hope for, at least they weren't overtly aggressive.
Yoshua 5 Feb, 2023 @ 7:09am 
I started playing DS2 today and I got raided at 3rd bonfire. I was wearing plain mage outfit I got and enemy was in some late game set with big weapon. I died, but at least raider was cool enough to wave to me before clapping my ass.
Chrysalis 2 Feb, 2023 @ 5:44pm 
unwritten rules are meant to not be written you know... thats why they are unwritten rules. :papyrus:
Moon 2 Feb, 2023 @ 2:26am 
I agree with this for the most part. I'd like to fight you. Add me so we can sort out what SM you want me at and so forth